Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Some question reality of Illinois' budget surplus
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been touting Illinois’ budget surplus for the fiscal year that just ended. However, some financial analysts believe a surplus is impossible for the state.
At more than $50.4 billion in spending, the state’s budget that started July 1 is the largest in the state’s history.
Chicago Tribune: As asylum-seekers struggle while waiting for work permits, Chicago businesses can’t fill jobs
Huberth Espinoza, 65, sat on a bench outside the 5th District police station in Pullman on a Wednesday in late June, waiting to be picked up for work.
An asylum-seeker from Venezuela, Espinoza said he came to Chicago to work but could not immediately get a job permit. So he worked for about two weeks for a man who would take him and other migrants to do odd jobs — construction, painting and yardwork — but he had not been picked up or paid in a week.
Chicago Sun-Times: PPP fraud suspected of 5 more Cook County workers, including woman who used money to pay for daughter’s wedding, report says
Five Cook County employees defrauded the federal COVID-19 relief program of more than $240,000, falsely claiming they owned companies that struggled during the pandemic, the county inspector general’s office said in a report Friday.
Over the past year, 20 other county workers also were suspected of defrauding the federal Paycheck Protection Program, accoring to interim Inspector General Steven Cyranoski. They include three high-ranking county officials, including one in the county’s human resources office, a payroll supervisor in the comptroller’s office and a director in the health department, according to Cyranoski.
Daily Herald: Illinois Supreme Court expected to rule on elimination of cash bail Tuesday
The Illinois Supreme Court is scheduled to issue an opinion Tuesday deciding whether cashless bail for criminal defendants will be implemented in the state.
Illinois Supreme Court Clerk Cynthia Grant issued a notice Friday indicating that the court expects to file its ruling at 9 a.m. Tuesday deciding a lawsuit over the constitutionality of the state’s plan to eliminate cash bail, a key element of the criminal justice reform law known as the SAFE-T Act.
WGN: The Rev. Jesse Jackson steps down as leader of civil rights group he founded in 1971
The Rev. Jesse Jackson announced Saturday that he will step down as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Chicago-based civil rights group he founded more than 50 years ago.
Jackson, 81, announced his resignation during a quiet farewell speech at the organization’s annual convention, where the group paid tribute to him with songs, kind words from other Black activists and politicians, and a video montage of Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns.
WTTW: Lightfoot Violated Ethics Ordinance by Asking City Employees for Campaign Cash: Watchdog
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot violated the city’s ethics ordinance when her campaign sent emails to city employees at their official city emails asking them to contribute to her bid for a second term, according to a report by the city’s watchdog released Friday.
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s determination that the former mayor committed three violations of the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance could trigger $60,000 in fines.
Capitol News: State regulators work to avoid federal Clean Air Act sanctions
Illinois faces a deadline next month to either change the way it enforces air pollution emission limits on heavy industries or face federal sanctions that could eventually result in restricted access to billions of dollars in federal highway funding.
But state agencies are working to avoid that as they rush to meet an Aug. 12 deadline imposed by the federal government to put a new regulatory framework in place that will comply with the federal government’s current interpretation of the Clean Air Act.